Top 6 Stocks to Buy for March

Tech, financials and manufacturers top this month’s list

Pimco CEO Mohamed A. El-Erian, the world’s largest bond manager, made some incisive comments during a recent CNBC interview. With the European crisis now “settled” and Italy saved, he said, “Greece has been sacrificed in order to build a firewall.”

And, according to Riverfront Investment Group, “The good news is that in contrast [to Europe], the U.S. economy is turning slowly. For the first time in 35 years, manufacturing employment is increasing faster than non-manufacturing employment.”

The U.S. unemployment rate is falling and even existing home sales are increasing –the best sign that the housing market is showing signs of improvement.

From a technician’s viewpoint, the major indices have had difficulty breaking several psychological barriers, chiefly the Dow’s 13,000 line and the S&P 500’s May 2011 high at 1,371. But a lagging sector, the banks, has turned positive, and that could provide the push needed to break the logjam for the indices. In February, bank stocks led the other sectors, and on Feb. 27, advanced 1%.

On the defensive side, there is massive support under all of the markets, and so corrections are probably limited to no more than 3% to 5%. And on the positive side, breakouts could easily move the major indices 10% or more.